Music Feature

50 Shades of Dre

Andre Iguodala has been called all of those things - as well
as other, unprintable things - ever since he arrived in Philadelphia in the
summer of 2004. So perhaps it was only fitting that the city's most mercurial
athlete was five time zones away when the Sixers decided to trade him last
week.

The four-team deal that ultimately shipped Orlando Magic
center Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers could have easily been
consummated at any point before the 2012-13 NBA season. But with each of the
franchises eager to pull the trigger before any of its fellow trade partners
got cold feet, Philadelphia agreed to send Iguodala to the Denver Nuggets.

Three days later, the former Sixer helped the U.S. Men's
National Team capture a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics.

So to recap: Less than 72 hours before the greatest athletic
achievement in his life, Iguodala was traded away by the only team that he had
ever known in his professional career. But trades in the NBA are relatively
commonplace. The more important story is the divorce between a man and the city
that - in contrast to its still-infamous tourism campaign - never loved him
back.

The split between Andre Iguodala and Philadelphia should be
amicable for both parties: It isn't as if this was a case of unrequited love.

For the better part of eight seasons, Sixers' fans have been
anything but silent in their disdain for the 6'6" swingman. Professional
basketball hasn't often been a topic of conversation on the Philadelphia sports
talk radio airwaves in recent years, but whenever it was, Iguodala typically
was the lightning rod for most callers' vitriol.

Things changed only slightly with the advent of social
media. 82 nights a year - or 66 nights during a lockout-shortened campaign -
thousands of hands throughout the Delaware Valley remained poised above
keyboards and smartphone screens during Sixers' games. What Iguodala did on the
defensive end was unimportant: Whenever he missed an ill-advised three-pointer,
or failed to convert a pair of free throws, 140-character missives began to
flood Twitter timelines all across the region.

After the Sixers fell in the first round to the Miami Heat
in the 2011 Eastern Conference Playoffs, Iguodala was asked if he expected to
return to the team the following year. His
response? "I expect to be in the NBA."

One day later, Iguodala skipped his end-of-year exit
interview with Sixers' head coach Doug Collins. If Iguodala's goal was to anger
an already hostile fan base, then he couldn't have played his cards any better.

But in true enigmatic fashion, there were plenty of times
when he got it right. Before the start of the 2011-12 season, when a group of
fans came together for an "End Of Lockout" party, Iguodala showed up,
even though he was under no obligation to do so. He shook hands, he posed for
pictures... he probably would have kissed a few babies if any were present. It
was a genuine display of goodwill for a group of supporters who truly loved the
Sixers and the game of basketball.

That one gesture began the reconciliation process between a
man and his fans. Not much changed on the court: In fact, it appeared as if
Iguodala made a conscious decision to shoot even less than he had in the past.

Yet last season, Iguodala had perhaps his best year ever,
culminating in his first-ever All-Star appearance. He led the Sixers to a 35-31
record - the team's first winning season in seven years - and provided us with
one of the most thrilling endings in Philadelphia sports history.

Last May, in the closing moments of Game 6 of the first
round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, the 76ers trailed the Chicago Bulls
by a single point. With 7.7 seconds left in regulation, Iguodala corralled a
missed Omer Asik free throw and drove the length of the court with reckless
abandon.

He was fouled with 2.2 seconds to go, and in front of a sold
out Wells Fargo Center crowd - very few of them optimists at that moment -
Iguodala calmly sank two free throws, securing Philadelphia's first playoff
series victory since 2003.

Shortly after the final horn, Iguodala jumped on top of the
scorer's table, posed, and bathed in the admiration from a sea of Sixers' fans.

"I don't know how you could write a better
script," said
Collins during the post-game press conference. "Dre has gone through a
lot here and I told him after the game that no one deserves more than you do to
have this moment."

And in that moment, something of a truce was formed between
Andre Iguodala and the city of Philadelphia. The two neighborhood kids who
never seemed to get along had finally made peace with one another.

Three months later, those two game-winning free throws are
little more than a distant memory. One of those neighborhood kids is now headed
halfway across the country, and his replacement (Andrew Bynum) is already more
popular than the old kid ever was.

Andre Iguodala never gave us what we wanted while he was
here, but in leaving, the Sixers - and their fans - got the franchise player
that they've long wished for.

The 76ers will open the 2012-13 season against the Denver
Nuggets at the Wells Fargo Center. There will be some sort of ceremony to honor
Iguodala before the game, and most fans in attendance will give him his proper
respect. Ironically enough, Iguodala may be cheered more that night than he
ever was while he wore a Sixers' uniform.

Perhaps Andre Iguodala isn't the only one that we should be
calling enigmatic after all.